Lenovo said to buy Motorola from Google for up to $3 billion, announcement expected in hours

Lenovo has plans to buy Motorola Mobility from Google for roughly $2 billion, according to China Daily. Reuters adds to the report, saying the deal will be worth $3 billion. TechCrunch and the New York Times confirm it too.

Lenovo isn't commenting on the rumours, but says it has a "major acquisition" announcement set for Thursday morning in Beijing - just hours away.

Pocket-lint has contacted to Google to learn more. The company hasn't commented on or confirmed the deal, but it's reporting earnings on Thursday afternoon, where we'll probably hear plenty following Lenovo's inevitable announcement.

It's a big deal, Google purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in August 2011. If the rumoured deal is true, Google will be taking a roughly $5 billion loss following the sale of Motorola Home and other subsidiaries. Lenovo would not only be adding to its handset development team, but would add close to 10,000 communication patents to its arsenal.

Even though Motorola shipped the Moto X and Moto G under Google, the handset arm has been losing money for the company. Last quarter it reported a $248 million loss, less than -21 per cent of Motorola Mobile segment revenues, and in the year ago quarter showed a $192 million loss.